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The drilling process is the most essential in the final assembly of the mechanical parts. Natural fiber based composites replace traditional materials due to their advantages, such as strength to weight ratio, availability, and environmental hazards. In this work, an attempt has been made to find the minimum thrust force produced by the drill tool at specified drilling process parameters. The drilling process parameters used for the investigation are rotational speed, tool feed, and resins. The spindle speed and feed rate are selected with three levels. Three resin materials were used, namely, epoxy, polyester, and vinyl ester. Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array was implemented. The result shows that the candlestick drill bit generated lesser thrust force at the specified drilling process parameters, followed by the twist and step cone drill bits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural cellulose fibers were newly identified from the sources of sansevieria ehrenbergii plant. These fibers were extracted using the mechanical decortication process. The hierarchical cell structure of the plant and fibers was analyzed using scanning electron microscope, optical microscope, Fourier transforms infrared, and X-ray diffraction. The density and diameter of the fibers were found to be approximately 0.887 g/cm3and 10–250 μm, respectively. The various chemical compositions were analyzed and compared with other natural fibers. The thermal stability of the fiber was examined through thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTG). The maximum peak temperature was obtained at 333.02 °C in DTG curve. The raw fibers exhibited a tensile strength of 50–585 MPa, an elongation at break of 2.8–21.7%, a Young’s modulus of 2.5–7.5 GPa, and a corrected compliances Young’s modulus of 2.5–7.8 GPa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials offered extensive range of properties which are suitable for large number of engineering application. The natural fibers have been abundantly available in the world. It has unique properties compared to synthetic fiber and reduces the plastic usage. This article reports the extraction process of natural fibers, characterization of natural fibers, and preparation of natural fiber-reinforced composites. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, impact, and dynamic properties as well as thermal and machinability properties of the composites with and without chemically treated fibers were reported. The water absorption capability of the composites and its effect on mechanical properties were also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Natural fiber reinforced composites have replaced the existing conventional materials due to its light weight and enhanced load-bearing capabilities. In the present work, the newly identified snake grass (Sansevieria ehrenbergii) fiber-reinforced isophthalic polyester composites are prepared by simple hand lay-up method with different fiber weight fractions. The mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength and modulus are analyzed for the longitudinal and transverse direction according to the prescribed standards. The obtained tensile strength and modulus are compared with the theoretically predicted values. The impact strength and energy absorption of the composites are analyzed and compared with control. The water uptake of pure and fiber incorporated resin under varying time period and climatic conditions are examined. The experimental results proves that the composites containing high fiber weight content contribute to remarkable increase in mechanical properties and water absorption capabilities compared to control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]